PLO slams merger of US consulate with embassy in Jerusalem al-Quds

The file photo, taken on October 18, 2018, shows the entrance to the US consulate in Jerusalem al-Quds. (By AFP)

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has slammed Washington’s move to merge the US consulate with its embassy in the occupied Jerusalem al-Quds, denouncing the decision as "the last nail in the coffin of the US administration” with regard to its role in sponsoring the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee, made the remarks on Sunday after the United States merged the activities of the consulate into the embassy building in al-Quds, claiming that the move was to increase the “efficiency and effectiveness” of diplomatic operations.

The controversial decision means that the consulate will no longer serve as an independent diplomatic mission and the Palestinians will be forced to work with an entity that is subordinate to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

The US decision "has nothing to do with efficiency, but a lot with the desire to please the ideologized American team, which is primed to dismantle the foundations of the international system and the US foreign policy in order to reward Israel for its violations and crimes," Erekat said in a statement.

Going ahead with the merger, he added, would be "the last nail in the coffin of the US administration role in peacemaking."

US diplomatic merger, assault on Palestinians' rights

In a related development, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, also slammed the merger as “an act of political assault on Palestinian rights,” and in violation of UN principles.

"The Trump administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law,” Ashrawi said, referring to President Donald Trump of the United States.

The merger is “not an administrative decision. It is an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity and a negation of the consulate's historic status and function, dating back nearly two hundred years,” she said.

Angered by Trump’s move, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas boycotted the US administration, saying Washington is no longer qualified to serve as the sole mediator in the decades-long conflict with Israel, and that an international mechanism should be devised to replace the US in the so-called peace process.